Findings from TUA’s pension project on Columbus, Ohio, are featured in this article at the Columbus Dispatch.
An anti-pension group was in Columbus yesterday, decrying the fact that some high-paid government employees can get large cumulative pension payments after retirement.
Taypayers United of America, which was founded in Illinois and is expanding into other states, called on Gov. John Kasich and lawmakers to pass “meaningful” pension reform.
That includes ending traditional “defined benefit” pension plans for new hires and switching them to 401(k)-style plans; increasing current employees’ contributions to their pensions by 10 percent; and making employees and retirees pay 50 percent of their health-care premiums.
Rae Ann McNeilly, outreach director for the organization, said a plan to raise retirement ages, scale back cost-of-living increases and make employees contribute more — stalled in the legislature for more than two years — doesn’t go far enough.
CHICAGO–Plaintiffs against the Ill. State Toll Highway Authority filed an amended complaint today in Cook County Circuit Court. Plaintiffs consist of James L. Tobin, Christina Marie Tobin, Kenneth Malo, John Guild, Rae Ann McNeilly, Paul Cassidy, Glenn Westphal and Carol Westphal.
Plaintiffs are seeking a Declaratory Judgment, injunctive relief, and redress for the violation of their civil rights by the defendants pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §1983, et seq. The Authority raised cash tolls by approximately 90% as of January 1.
Representing the Authority is the office of Ill. Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan (D), daughter of Chicago machine boss and Ill. House Speaker Michael J. Madigan (D).
“What Lisa Madigan is getting away with is nothing less than highway robbery,” said plaintiff James Tobin.
The amended complaint included the following points:
- The Commission was created by an act of the Illinois General Assembly as an instrumentality and administrative agency of the State of Illinois in 1953. On October 25, 1955, the Tollway Commission adopted a resolution authorizing a single series of bonds aggregating $415,000,000 to finance the construction of what it described as “The Northern Illinois Toll Highway,” which was to consist of three separate routes.
- In its first full year of operation the annual toll revenues collected amounted to $14,536,000. Since 2000, the Tollway has collected nearly $9 Billion ($8,621,360,000) in toll revenues from the users of its toll highways. The majority of that amount was collected from the three routes where the revenue bonds were already paid.
- The Tollway has indicated it now has some 13 series of outstanding bonds, with an aggregate total of over $4 Billion ($4,066,675,000) and with at least one series of those bonds not maturing until January 1, 2034. It continues to issue bonds without giving due consideration to the intent of the legislature that the Tollway should dissolve when the original bonds were repaid.
“Rather than paying off the tollway bonds and disbanding, the overpaid administrators keep issuing new bonds, so that the bonds of the authority never get paid off as the Ill. Legislature intended,” said Tobin. “This way the bureaucrats, tollway employees and politically-connected contractors rake in the dough year after year.”
Click here to view the 1st amended complaint
View as a PDF
Findings from TUA’s pension project on Toledo, Ohio, are featured in this article from the Toledo Blade.
A Chicago-based advocacy group released Thursday a report estimating the top lifetime pension amounts due to Toledo and Lucas County public officials at between $3 million and $4 million.
Taxpayers United of America, which bills itself as a national non-partisan organization campaigning for tax accountability and pension reform, published the list, which details wages and pension estimates for 100 local officials and teachers, including Mayor Mike Bell and police chief Derrick Diggs. The group said it based its calculations on annual wage data, Ohio pension rules and a life expectancy of 85 years.
According to the report, Mayor Bell would take home a lifetime pension of $4.1 million over 30 years and police chief Derrick Diggs — who is listed in his previous position as deputy chief — would enjoy a $3.3 million lifetime pension. The report also estimates pensions for the heads of several Lucas County social service agencies, city department directors and police captains. However, many of the officials cited in the report no longer hold the positions stated and some have already retired.
The numbers listed are difficult to verify because government pension amounts in Ohio are not disclosed under public records laws. City spokesman Jen Sorgenfrei said she could not respond to the data in the report, pointing out that the methodology used was “flawed.” She declined to provide alternative numbers, stating that the city does not have access to pension information,
However, Taxpayers United vice president, Christina Tobin, said the group is confident the numbers are quite accurate. Moreover, the difficulty in verifying them points to the need for greater transparency in Ohio’s public pension system, she argued.
The organization is compiling similar reports on public pensions across Ohio and seven other Midwestern states. Ms. Tobin said the numbers show the current pension system is unsustainable and needs to be reformed. As it stands, the system places an unwieldy burden on government budgets and is unfair to taxpayers, she said.
“It’s the same pattern everywhere. The average household income is peanuts. Pension payouts are in the millions,” Ms. Tobin said. “I don’t think taxpayers will be too thrilled with the idea with the mayor making that sort of money.”
Adam Schwiebert, a research fellow at the conservative Buckeye Institute in Columbus, which also compiles data on public salaries and pensions, said the Taxpayers United numbers are “estimates at best.” He said the group relied on several assumptions, such as life expectancy and length of employment, which can vary considerably. But he echoed Ms. Tobin’s concern with the public pension system, saying it represents a $66 billion “unfunded liability.” His group advocates for a system closer in line with the private sector where workers pay into plans such as 401(k)s, he said.
“This is a tremendous fiscal issue facing the state and an issue of fairness,” he said. “We think Ohio should be forward thinking in funding its public retirement plans”
